The
city of Hong Kong was handed over to China by the British government
in 1997, but still has a special status within the huge country. It
has a population of 7.2 million and spreads out over Hong Kong Island,
Kowloon and New Territories.

The
Hong Kong urban and suburban areas were long served by two railway operators:
MTR Corporation (Mass Transit Railway Corporation)
and KCRC (Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation).
The MTR Corporation operated 7 lines including the Airport Express.
The KCRC ran 3 suburban lines and the LRT (light rail) system in the
North-West District of Hong Kong. On 2 Dec 2007, operations of the KCRC
were transferred to the MTRC, with the combined railway system now operated
under MTR CorporationLimited (MTRCL):

The
original MTR Network

Dating
back to the 1960s, the British HK government saw the need for an urban
mass transit railway system to cope with the transportation needs of
what is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. A plan
of 4 railway lines, with alignment similar to today's Kwun
Tong Line, Tsuen Wan Line,
Island Line and the future Shatin-to-Central
Link, was formulated. The government decided to run the system under
a then wholly-government owned company, Mass
Transit Railway Corporation (now known as MTR Corporation).

The
first three lines were completed between 1979 and 1985, and the East
Kowloon Line (now Shatin-Central Link) was shelved to direct capital
for the immense new Airport project, which was completed in 1998 and
includes the Airport Express and
a new metro line, Tung Chung Line.
The MTR network expanded to new residential districts with the
opening of the Tseung Kwan O Line
in 2002 (with a branch added in 2009). In 2005, the world's only dedicated
metro line for Disneyland, the Disneyland Resort
Line, was opened to the public together with the Disneyland
theme park.

HK MTR
is famous for its cleanliness, ease of use, safety and reliability.
By 2005 all underground stations had been equipped with platform screen
doors. Route maps on trains are installed with LED lighting to indicate
location of trains and transfer information. Cross-platform interchange
is available at most transfer stations.

The
former KCRC Network

Construction
of the Kowloon-Canton Railway started in 1907, with the British
(Hong Kong) Section opening in 1910 and completion of the Chinese Section
in 1911. The single-track, steam-powered inter-city railway connected
the city of Hong Kong and Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province
in China some 100 km away from Hong Kong. Canton was a misnomer of Guangzhou,
and Kowloon refers to the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong. It was not
until 1983, when the doubling and electrification programme of the Kowloon-Canton
Railway was completed, that the railway (HK section) became a suburban
railway with intermediate stations that connect remote urban districts
in Hong Kong. The Kowloon-Canton Railway HK section, is the present
East Rail Line, and it carries local
suburban rail, inter-city passenger service, while freight operations
ceased in 2010 after fierce competition from other modes. The East
Rail Line serves two border stations, Lo Wu and Lok
Ma Chau, where passengers can enter the PRC's territory and interchange
to the Shenzhen Metro.

The KCRC
built the West Rail and Ma
On Shan Rail in the late 1990s. These two railway lines are
purely local suburban railways that link various new towns to central
Hong Kong and were completed in 2003 and 2004. A link in downtown Kowloon
between West Rail and East Rail was established on 16 Aug 2009, with
the interchange point between the two systems moved to Hung Hom.

Work
on the Lok Ma Chau Spur
Line (Lok Ma Chau <> Sheung Shui), the second urban
link with Shenzhen, was started in early 2003 and opened on 15 Aug 2007.
The 7.4 km project comprises a large portion of tunnels that run through
the ecologically sensitive area of Long Valley, viaducts and the Lok
Ma Chau station, the new terminal with immigration facilities.

It was
proposed by the HK government in 2006 to merge the KCRC and the
MTRC to form one integrated metro company. The merger was effective
on 2 Dec 2007.

MTR
Lines Overview

Route length (km)

Stations

Opened in

Configuration

Rolling stock manufacturer

Kwun Tong Line

15.8

15

1979

8-car

1432
mm rail gauge, 1500 V DC

catenary

Metro
Cammell

/CNR

Tsuen Wan Line

16.9

16

1982

Metro
Cammell

Island Line

16.3

17*

1985

Tung Chung Line

31.1

8

1998

Adtranz-CAF/ROTEM

Tseung Kwan O Line

15.5

8

2002

ROTEM/Metro
Cammell

Disneyland Resort Line

3.5

2

2005

4-car

Metro
Cammell

Airport Express

35.3

4

1998

7-ca

r

1432
mm rail gauge, 1500 V DC
catenary

Adtranz-CAF

East Rail

34

13

1910 (electrified in 1983)

12-car

1435
mm track gauge, 25 kV ACcatenary

Kinki
Sharyo/ Metro Cammell

Lok
Ma Chau Spur

7.4

1

2007

West Rail

~35

12

2003

9-car

Kinki
Sharyo

Ma On Shan Rail

11.4

9

2004

4-car

MTR
Lines

Kwun Tong Line

Tiu Keng
Leng – Yau Ma Tei: 15.8 km – 15 stations

Opened
in 1979 as the Modified Initial System (MIS), the Kwun Tong Line is
the first metro opening to the public in Greater China (Beijing Subway
was officially “under testing” until 1980s). The line used to cross
the harbour, but was replaced by the Tsuen Wan Line in 1982 and the
Tseung Kwan O Line in 2002. The crowded urban environment of Hong Kong
may be experienced when travelling along the viaducts from Kowloon Bay
to Lam Tin, showing the interlocking road structures and grade-separation
measures. The line will soon be extended to Whampoa via Ho Man Tin,
providing the large residential development with a railway service.

Tsuen Wan Line

Tsuen
Wan – Central: 16.9 km – 16 stations

The Tsuen
Wan Line opened as the Tsuen Wan Extension in 1982, serving the satellite
city of Tsuen Wan and the major corridor along Cheung Sha Wan Road and
Nathan Road, with its passengers including those who transferred from
road traffic from the New Territories towns, leading to overcrowding
before the completion of Tung Chung Line in the late 1990s. The line
is constantly crowded, being the link between major commercial centres
of Mong Kok, Tsim Sha Tsui and the Central District.

Island Line

Kennedy
Town – Chai Wan: 16.3 km – 17 stations

The Island
Line was thought to be able to replace the tram on Hong Kong Island
when planned, and is unique in most of its stations being constructed
in tunnel bores, with smaller platforms and curving-in walls creating
a claustrophobic environment. MTR mitigated by putting large calligraphy
reproductions of the station names on the walls, with such names becoming
an artistic feature not found on other urban lines. Its former western
terminus, Sheung Wan, had a section of a platform built to accommodate
the East Kowloon Line, which has since been refilled and reconstructed
as passageways to prepare for the extension to the Western District
after the plans for the East Kowloon Line had been shelved and modified.

Tung Chung Line

Tung Chung
– Hong Kong: 31.1 km – 8 stations

The Airport
Express and Tung Chung Line are collectively known as the Airport Railway,
linking the city with the Airport and its supporting new town of Tung
Chung since 1998. The two lines share tracks on the Tsing Ma Bridge
and when crossing the harbour. The railway proved to be a crucial link
of the Lantau Island in adverse weather, being the only form of transportation
available when the highway was once unexpectedly flooded and blocked
due to landslides. The cross-platform interchange with Tsuen Wan Line
at Lai King proved to be effective in transferring the load of the Tsuen
Wan Line to a faster corridor, leaving the capacity for the Nathan Road
corridor.

Disneyland Resort Line

Sunny
Bay – Disneyland Resort: 3.5 km – 2 stations

Originally
called the Penny’s Bay Rail Link, the Disneyland Resort Line is the
first fully automated heavy-rail line in Hong Kong and the world’s first
dedicated railway for a Disneyland Resort, opening in 2005 before the
opening of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. Trains were refurbished and
redesigned to a Disney theme to provide passengers with the experience
akin to the theme park.

Tseung Kwan O Line

Po Lam
/ LOHAS Park – Quarry Bay: 15.5 km – 8 stations

The Tseung
Kwan O Line utilises a reserved corridor in the middle of the new town
to provide convenient access for the high-density developments surrounding
the stations. The planning of the town is based on the idea that the
stations should be within walking distance of the residents. The depot
of the line at Tseung Kwan O South is combined with housing developments
on top in a similar manner as the other depots for the urban lines.
This form of residential development is how the railway company was
able to finance its lines and provide the supporting passenger base
at the same time.

East Rail

Lo Wu
/ Lok Ma Chau – Hung Hom: 41.4 km – 14 stations

The original
Kowloon Canton Railway, a railway that connects to China and beyond,
formed a substantial part of the present East Rail Line service. The
railway was steam and later diesel-powered in its early years, being
an inter-city long distance railway. It began its commuter rail service
in 1983 after electrification and double-tracking, becoming the spine
of the transport system of new towns in East New Territories. Modernisation
of the fleet in 1998 marked the transformation of the KCRC into a metro
operator in anticipation of the completion of the West Rail. The railway
returned to Tsim Sha Tsui, the place where the railway began in 1910,
briefly before the opening of the Kowloon Southern Link when the West
Rail was extended to Hung Hom. The East Rail will be extended across
the harbour to Admiralty, forming a North-South corridor that connects
the border to the Central Business District of Hong Kong.

West Rail

Tuen Mun
– Hung Hom: ~35 km – 12 stations

The northwestern
New Territories was not served by the metro system until the opening
of the West Rail in 2003. The line is characterised by its long viaduct
sections in flood-prone areas and by its large stations. The Pat Heung
Depot was the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia when it opened.
The Northern Link is a long term extension of the West Rail to the border,
potentially alleviating the crowds on East Rail and diverting the increased
patronage from new developments in the area.

Ma On Shan Rail

Wu Kai
Sha – Tai Wai: 11.4 km – 9 stations

The Ma
On Shan Line was built as a spur line of the East Rail to serve the
eastern portion of the Sha Tin–Ma On Shan New Town. The stations are
closely connected to the population centres of the town in the same
manner as the Tseung Kwan O Line, both being planned together with the
new towns, thus the line was dubbed the “community railway”. The line
will be extended to connect with the West Rail through eastern Kowloon
Peninsula, replacing the alignment and function of the former East Kowloon
Line, forming the East-West Corridor from Wu Kai Sha to Tuen Mun.

Airport Express

Hong Kong
– AsiaWorld-Expo: 35.3 km – 5 stations

The Airport
Express operates at the top speed of 135 km/h, linking the city centre
at Central to the Airport in just 24 minutes. In-city Check-in Service
is available at Hong Kong and Kowloon stations, with the luggage loaded
onto the carriage at the Hong Kong end of the train specially designed
for the service. The trains are technically identical to the trains
on the Tung Chung Line, but were specially designed for comfort in long-distance
travel. Special fares are available when there are exhibitions and performances
at AsiaWorld-Expo to cater for the huge crowds from elsewhere in the
city. Tung Chung Line trains will also occasionally go to that station
during such events.

2016: Kwun Tong Line Yau Ma Tei - Whampoa
2016/2017: South Island Line Admiralty - South Horizons: ~7 km
– 5 stations, to become the second heavy-rail line on the Hong Kong
Island, linking the Southern District to the northern shore with a medium-capacity
system. The half of the line opening in 2016/2017 will be the eastern
section, with the western section in planning. The line serves the Ocean
Park, a famous local theme park popular among tourists, thus it is expected
that the line will be crowded at times and there have been capacity
concerns from the community.

In
2004, Hong Kong's downtown tramway celebrated its 100th anniversary.
It is the world's only double-decker tram that is in commercial operation.
The system was first proposed in 1881, but failed to attract private
investment for nearly 20 years.

The tram
runs between the East and West of the north shore of the HK Island,
along the busiest trunk road of the island, and spans to the Happy Valley
Racecourse in a little loop. The system is entirely at grade, and shares
roads with common vehicles. It takes 45 mins from Shau Kei Wan to Central
(on MTR: 19 mins). There is no air-conditioning yet the fare is very
low. Its easily accessible locations, price and open view make it an
ideal transport among visitors and budget commuters.